Jeannine’s Banana Kahula French Toast

Brunch at Jeannine’s in Montecito was perfect. We ate outside on the patio and experienced their famous banana Kahlúa challah French toast! It was so delicious, so we had to find out how they made it. The secret is that they incorporate bananas into the syrup. The syrup would even be delicious poured over ice cream or pound cake for a dessert.

When you’re in the Santa Barbara area, you must stop by for breakfast. This recipe has now made it onto our brunch menu at home several times! We can’t get enough of it! Thanks to Jeannine’s for sharing the ingredients. Below is what we did to recreate it at home.

To make the sauce, melt butter in a saucier or small saucepan. We used our All-Clad TK Saucier. Once the butter is melted, add the brown sugar and bring to a simmer until the sugar is incorporated. Add mashed banana and Kahlúa, and simmer for about 10 minuets. Remove from heat and serve.

To make the French toast, blend the eggs, milk, and vanilla until smooth. We use an immersion blender and these for convenience. Put the mixture in a shallow dish and cut diagonal slices of Challah into 1.5” slices. Melt a few tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a large skillet or on a griddle.

Dip each slice of bread in the batter mixture and coat well on each side. We use these hotel pans to do this. Place each slice in the hot pan or on the hot griddle and cook for 3-4 minutes per side, until the bread is toasted and the egg is fully cooked. Serve immediately drizzled with banana Kahlúa syrup and top with sliced bananas.